Greetings from Connecticut!

Dear ICHRIE Members,
 
Greetings from Florida! March 4, 2022 boasted the Southeast, Central and South American Federation of ICHRIE’s 7^th Annual Conference. This year’s virtual conference once again offered an opportunity for us to come together in mutual learning and collaboration to benefit the amazing SECSA-ICHRIE Federation.
 
We saw 239 attendees at our single day conference. They used the Zoom platform to network, build community, make connections with someone new and embrace innovative ways to enrich and support mutual learning, development, and growth. We witnessed 33 presentations, featuring 9 full research paper presentations, 8 pedagogy presentations, and 16 works in progress presentations. We were beyond grateful to have all our presenters bring their unique areas of expertise and insight into the hospitality industry to our conference.
 
As the conference theme and goal was "Designing Tomorrow, Today", we kicked off our one-day conference with an amazing panel of prestigious journal editors to discuss tomorrow’s burgeoning topics. We had the privilege of hearing from Dr. Po-Ju Chen (from JHTC, JHTE), Dr. Cihan Cobanoglu, (from JHTE, JHTT), and Dr. Jean-Pierre van der Rest (from JHTR). They shared with us how to avoid desk rejection as well as the criteria editors look for in current and future research.
 
Our keynote speaker was Dr. Gregory L. DeShields, who helped us learn how to bring diversity practices into the classroom. His workshop on the Next Generation of Leaders: The Fundamentals of Diversity Equity and Inclusion was informative and enriching across multiple lenses. He began with definitions of key concepts and transitioned into best business practices and how to continue to move the needle in the right direction.
 
We also had the pleasure of hearing from Mr. Steve Hood, Senior Vice President of Research for STR, who shared the state of the industry throughout the world, and then focused specifically on the SECSA regions. We identified several areas of future research in our region and around the globe during this insightful session.
 
Finally, we mixed things up and had a virtual happy hour, hosted by Ms. Cristina Moguel and Mr. Gabriel Urrutia from the Bacardi Center of Excellent at the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. They shared with us the history of the ‘mule’, stirred a ‘SECSA mule’ using Bourbon, and introduced us to the robotic bartender Cecilia. In addition to explaining how she will complement her human colleagues in the hospitality workplace of the future, they also invited us to play a Kahoot trivia game and awarded the top 3 players signed cocktail books.
 
We are also grateful to the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University for serving as the title sponsor of this conference, to the Muma School of Business’ School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at the University of South Florida for sponsoring our Keynote, for Smith Travel Research for sponsoring our state of the industry discussion, and to the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality & Resort Management at the University of Memphis and the College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management at the University of South Carolina for sponsoring our breakout rooms.
 
Moreover, this event would not have been possible without the tireless work, dedication, and service of the entire SECSA-ICHRIE board. It has been a challenging two years, to say the least, and through global, professional and personal trials and tribulations, they have dedicated countless hours of their time to serve us. Smart, Engaging, Compassionate, Selfless and Awesome are just a few words that come to mind to describe these extraordinary individuals. This conference would not have come to fruition were it not for them.

Finally, we are so excited to announce that next year’s SECSA-ICHRIE conference will be hosted in person in beautiful Orlando, Florida at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida. We look forward to seeing you all next year!
 
Warmest wishes,

Dr. Lisa Cain
SECSA-ICHRIE President

SECSA Federation

Congratulations to the ICHRIE West Federation for hosting an amazing Virtual Conference in February 2022! We asked for some highlights from the West Federation President, Dr. Saehya Ann, who shared the following:

Greetings from the Northern California!

I am thrilled to share that it was another great WF CHRIE Conference this year, with a total of 361 conference attendees! Our virtual conference used the WHOVA app and everyone enjoyed using and interacting on WHOVA. We sent a total of 1,923 messages over the three days, created 48 community boards for discussions on various topics, and uploaded 81 photos! These numbers demonstrate how much we were able to interact and connect over the three days of the conference.

We had a total of 60 proposal submissions this year; it was great to see lots of researchers, educators and students connect in this amazing learning community and grow together.

It was the first time we hosted a community college welcome session at the WF CHRIE Conference. We welcomed more than 17 community colleges and 13 four-year institutions for a discussion on how to help and support each other. We also created the best community college connector award and hope  to continue this session in the future to strengthen the rapport between community colleges and four-year institutions!

We hosted the 2^nd research hackathon featuring four teams that are successfully submitted their proposals. It was our first time working with the two ICHRIE journals, JHTR and JHTE. We look forward more opportunities to work with ICHRIE journals in the future!

Our undergraduate research competition was a big success, with a total of 13 teams participating. It is obvious that the WF CHRIE undergraduate research competition is gaining an international reputation as so many international teams participated in the competition. It was great to see our undergraduate students’ passion!

We also hosted two general sessions, three panel sessions and three professional development sessions. It was great to virtually meet, learn together and share our thoughts and knowledge.

I want to thank all of the conference attendees--thank you so much for attending our 2022 WF CHRIE Virtual Conference and for your support. Thank you to our hosting university, California State University, Sacramento and the organizational team. I also want to thank our university and industry sponsors.